In an unexpected fit of inspiration for Pokemon Day 2022 I made a couple of Pokesuit designs for the heroines of the Pokemon universe.

With her new PokeSuit Gym Leader Flannery takes on the scorching hot colors of her signature Pokemon Torkoal in my Pokegirl series. She may have a passion hotter than a volcano, but she does enjoy the cool Hoenn breeze of the Verdanturf Woods from time to time.

To me Torkoal is a very interesting Pokemon. It's usually flying under people's radar, being one of the non-evolving species. But it has a rather rare ability in White Smoke and can be a capable team member as a tank. Its design focuses on the billowing smoke and steam coming constantly out of its shell which was a challenge to channel into the suit's design. Eventually I decided to uncouple the design of the shell and the smoke and turned the cloud into a cape, making it look like she's constantly scorching with steam coming off her shoulders. As for the shell: I noticed the rim of Torkoal's shell has a zig-zag shaped rim on the edge so I made that into a Sailor Moon style minidress. Surprisingly I really like how it turned out even though I'm usually not a big fan of skirts and dresses.

For this piece I had a struggle with my reference material. because Flannery is usually wearing baggy pants, so I had trouble forming her legs for a skinthight suit. Though with her generally laid back pose I really like how it turned out in the end. Especially interesting was the background where I could go into more detail in the tree trunks, because it's a more close to the ground shot.

Made on: March 12 2022